Getting winnt.exe to work on Windows Longhorn build 3683

[ActivateYourTech]

Hi,

I have recently been wondering about getting winnt.exe to work on Windows Longhorn build 3683. My first attempt didn't quite go to plan, as I thought that replacing winnt.exe from the winnt.exe of Windows XP (SP3 Pro) would work. This didn't quite go to plan, as when I inserted a Windows 98 boot floppy, and put my new CD in the CD Drive (D:), and tried to launch winnt.exe, it would say "Bad command or file name." I also tried to replace winnt32.exe, winnt32 help file, and a winnt32 package installer, yet it did not help. I also checked on the CD to make sure that the files were there, and they were.

If anyone knows how to fix it, please can you tell me?

Thanks

[Lucas Brooks]

You can patch the original executable or use a debugger to jump to the actual code in the main function. The actual code is in there but it's not referenced by anything (which is a weird thing considering it's compiled by a C compiler, they must've edited the assembly language output).

[Xeno]

Are you 100% sure the file exists? I just swapped 3683's winnt with 2600 RTM and I had no issues

[ActivateYourTech]

Are you 100% sure the file exists? I just swapped 3683's winnt with 2600 RTM and I had no issues

I checked again, and it was there. Also, I put some other files as a last resort, and they showed up, yet they refused to open.

[xelloss]

Hi,

I have recently been wondering about getting winnt.exe to work on Windows Longhorn build 3683. My first attempt didn't quite go to plan, as I thought that replacing winnt.exe from the winnt.exe of Windows XP (SP3 Pro) would work. This didn't quite go to plan, as when I inserted a Windows 98 boot floppy, and put my new CD in the CD Drive (D:), and tried to launch winnt.exe, it would say "Bad command or file name."

That's highly unusual, because that error message means that the system hasn't even tried running winnt.exe, because it couldn't find it. So you shouldn't really try to get winnt.exe to work, but you should understand why the system on your bootdisk cannot find it.

[MyFaceNeverWhen]

Hi,

I have recently been wondering about getting winnt.exe to work on Windows Longhorn build 3683. My first attempt didn't quite go to plan, as I thought that replacing winnt.exe from the winnt.exe of Windows XP (SP3 Pro) would work. This didn't quite go to plan, as when I inserted a Windows 98 boot floppy, and put my new CD in the CD Drive (D:), and tried to launch winnt.exe, it would say "Bad command or file name." I also tried to replace winnt32.exe, winnt32 help file, and a winnt32 package installer, yet it did not help. I also checked on the CD to make sure that the files were there, and they were.

If anyone knows how to fix it, please can you tell me?

Thanks

SP3's winnt.exe might be incompatible with 3683, try RTM's one.

[AlphaBeta]

It wouldn't complain about bad command or file name if the executable was incompatible.

[MyFaceNeverWhen]

Or It could just be an intentional complaint injected into the code...

ActivateYourTech, If winnt.exe is genuinely in the ISO, then are you able to send said ISO where you're doing this experiment (including configuration of VM)?

[ActivateYourTech]

I have provided the following things in this link (to Google Drive):
The whole folder which the VM is in
The ISO which I am using

Link (I don't have FTP access, plus it isn't allowed on the server)
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/ ... SgHd9OAq6Z

[MyFaceNeverWhen]

Apparently WINNT.EXE exists in the ISO but cannot be read with the Windows 98 bootdisk I use.




As well as this the files do not have extensions.